Change of use

In some circumstances, an owner who intends to change the use of a building (or part of a building) must give notice in writing to the Council of that intention.

How is building use defined?

Every building is designed for a specific use and has to meet Building Code requirements that ensure it will be safe, healthy and durable when used in the way it was designed. If that use changes, the building may need to be altered to support the new use. The regulation divides the uses for all or parts of buildings into four broad activity groups:

When does a change of use occur?

A change of use occurs when:

a building’s (or part of a building’s) use, as defined in the Regulations, changes and

the new use has more onerous or additional Building Code requirements than the old use. The additional or more onerous requirements will usually mean that the fire hazard or the risk to life has increased in the building's new use.

How will your notification be processed?

Your notification of proposed change of use will be assessed by a building consent officer and specialists as required. Depending on the complexity of the project this assessment is likely to be processed within 20 working days.

During the assessment we will:

identify and advise customer of any other authorisations that may be required - e.g. resource and building consent

establish if the proposed use is a change of use under the Building Act.

assess if the building complies ‘as nearly as is reasonably practicable’ to the provisions in section 115

identify and advise customer if any building work or upgrades are required to achieve ‘as nearly as is reasonably practicable’ for the required provisions of the building code.

provide the owner with written notice that either;

the proposed change is not a change of use and does not require notification or written approval, or;

the Council is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the building in its new use will comply as nearly as reasonable practicable with the relevant provisions of the building code and therefore no upgrade is required, or;

the Council is not satisfied that the building in its new use will comply as nearly as reasonable practicable with the provisions of the building code and reject the change of use. A notice to fix may be sent to the owner if the building in its current use does not comply with the provisions of the building code.

Please note that to determine the extent of any building code upgrade requirements, the Council must apply the ‘as nearly as is reasonably practicable’ test. This test is a weighting exercise and involves a sacrifices and benefits assessment where the sacrifices and difficulties of achieving full compliance are balanced against the advantages of upgrading. Also protection of life is to have a high weighting.

Once you have submitted an application, you will need to pay a deposit fee as set in our Building Consents Fee Schedule. Once the application has been processed and the Council is ready to accept the change of use, all of the costs associated with the application will be calculated, and if required, a further invoice will need to be paid before the decision is released.

An application that is comprehensive, concise and clear will be faster for the Council to process. That means it will be considerably less expensive.

Neglecting to notify a change of use

When an owner neglects to notify the Council of a change of use that has already occurred, the consequences can be as follows:

A maximum fine of $5,000 may be imposed if it is found that the owner has committed an offence by failing to give the Council written notice before changing the use of a building.

If there has been work carried out that would have required Council approval then:

An infringement notice might be issued.

A notice to fix or a requirement that the owner apply for a certificate of acceptance might also apply as the Council still needs to be satisfied that the building in its new use will meet the requirements under section 115 of the Building Act.